New Zealand
• Currently looking at expanding my development and relocating to New Zealand • 3+ years successfully working as a qualified occupational therapist in a rotational acute, public hospital setting in over 11 different areas of practice. • Voted Occupational Therapy Unison (Trade Union) Representative. • Excellent Leadership effectively managing highly complex cases involving patients, families, and other multi-disciplinary team members. • Strong organisational skills. Experience holding training sessions for junior occupational therapists. • Student educator with experience training Masters (Pre-registration) Occupational Therapy students to become competent occupational therapists. • High performer.
Mental health service for older adults
Neurological Rehabilitation in the community for working age adults and older adults
I worked as an autonomous senior occupational therapist in an acute public NHS hospital. It was my responsibility to provide high quality, client-centred occupational therapy to the patients. Duties included: • Rotations completed on Brain Injury, Stroke Step-Down & Endocrinology ward, and Medical-outliers ward • Senior support to promote patient-flow and timely discharges to the wider team on a range of wards including the Emergency wards, Care of the Elderly wards, Cardiac & Renal ward, Gastroenterology, Haematology & Oncology ward. • Formal supervision with junior members of the team. • Independently completing comprehensive neurological Occupational Therapy assessments and treatments. • Skills included time management, wider-team management, creativity to manage complex cases, leading mental capacity assessments, conducting home visits with patients with advanced cognitive impairments (including dementia), and holding training sessions. • Occupational Therapy Representative for the trade union, Unison, where all OT colleagues are currently members. My duties included sitting on board meetings with the board of directors and disputing contemporary issues affecting the whole trust and the Occupational Therapy service. • High-pressure, stressful environment, where my skills and attributes flourished as I effectively met and exceeded all demands.
Worked as a junior Occupational Therapist on a range of different wards, including the Stroke Unit, Burns & Plastics wards, Surgical, Respiratory, Care of the Elderly, Orthopaedic wards. I developed skills to: ▪ Effectively contribute to multi-disciplinary team (MDT) board rounds, ▪ Screened appropriate Occupational Therapy referrals, ▪ Skills included applying the Occupational Therapy process effectively into my caseload, team working, presenting case studies, and attended a range of training sessions, including those on Mental Capacity Assessments and Safe-Guarding Vulnerable patients. ▪ Delegated effectively to therapy assistants, and promote an environment where they are recognised and appreciated as core members of the team.
Worked collaboratively with the occupational therapist and physiotherapist, in addition to all other healthcare practitioners on the ward, to ensure that the patients received integrated, high quality care. Worked in a variety of wards, including Gastroenterology & Oncology Ward, Renal & Cardiac Ward, Care of the Elderly Ward, and Orthopaedics Wards. Carried out initial assessments, transfer and mobility assessments, equipment provision, safe moving and handling advice, assisted in stairs assessments, completed referrals to community services, and spoke with families and carers to gain relevant background information on patients and to support the provision of a high quality service.